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Victor Legris #1
Murder on the Eiffel Tower
Murder on the Eiffel Tower is painstakingly researched, an effortless evocation of the glorious City of Light, and an exciting opening to a promising series of featuring Victor Legris.
The brand-new, shiny Eiffel Tower is the pride and glory of the 1889 World Exposition. But one sunny afternoon, as visitors are crowding the viewing platforms, a woman collapses and dies on this great Paris landmark. Can a bee sting really be the cause of death? Or is there a more sinister explanation?
Enter young bookseller Victor Legris. Present on the tower at the time of the incident, and appalled by the media coverage of the occurrence, he is determined to find out what actually happened.
In this dazzling evocation of late nineteenth-century Paris, we follow Victor as his investigation takes him all over the city and he suspects an ever-changing list of possible perpetrators. Could mysterious Kenji Mori, his surrogate father and business partner at the bookstore Legris operates, be involved in the crime? Why are beautiful Russian illustrator Tasha and her colleagues at the newly launched sensationalist newspaper Passepartout always up-to-date in their reporting? And what will Legris do when the deaths begin to multiply and he is caught in a race against time?
Winner of the prestigious Michel Lebrun French Thriller Prize
The brand-new, shiny Eiffel Tower is the pride and glory of the 1889 World Exposition. But one sunny afternoon, as visitors are crowding the viewing platforms, a woman collapses and dies on this great Paris landmark. Can a bee sting really be the cause of death? Or is there a more sinister explanation?
Enter young bookseller Victor Legris. Present on the tower at the time of the incident, and appalled by the media coverage of the occurrence, he is determined to find out what actually happened.
In this dazzling evocation of late nineteenth-century Paris, we follow Victor as his investigation takes him all over the city and he suspects an ever-changing list of possible perpetrators. Could mysterious Kenji Mori, his surrogate father and business partner at the bookstore Legris operates, be involved in the crime? Why are beautiful Russian illustrator Tasha and her colleagues at the newly launched sensationalist newspaper Passepartout always up-to-date in their reporting? And what will Legris do when the deaths begin to multiply and he is caught in a race against time?
Winner of the prestigious Michel Lebrun French Thriller Prize
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2003
80 people are currently reading
1563 people want to read
About the author
Claude Izner
64 books86 followersPseudonym of Liliane Korb (1940) and her sister Laurence Korb (1951) known as well as Laurence Lefèvre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews
April 23, 2020
3.5 stars, actually.
As the main character is a bookseller, I feel I had no chance but like this series.
I read the second book first, and was very much entertained. Sadly, the first one isn't quite as good as the second one, and you often feel that Victor Legris, said bookseller and amateur detective, is a bit on the slow side mentally. Perhaps it's due to him having his blood in other body parts for quite some amount of time during the book (don't worry, there are no corny sex scenes, just some drool and slobber and exaggerated heartache - which is endearing in its exaggeration).
As for the pace of this crime novel, it's more for fans of Agatha Christie than more modern and high-paced authors.
As the main character is a bookseller, I feel I had no chance but like this series.
I read the second book first, and was very much entertained. Sadly, the first one isn't quite as good as the second one, and you often feel that Victor Legris, said bookseller and amateur detective, is a bit on the slow side mentally. Perhaps it's due to him having his blood in other body parts for quite some amount of time during the book (don't worry, there are no corny sex scenes, just some drool and slobber and exaggerated heartache - which is endearing in its exaggeration).
As for the pace of this crime novel, it's more for fans of Agatha Christie than more modern and high-paced authors.
September 2, 2012
International bestseller... REALLY?
Maybe it was a bad translation, or maybe the characters were a tad flat (cardboard), possibly the story didn't flow, and just maybe it wasn't worth reading.
I like to finish what I start, so if the story isn't nasty, dirty or yucky, I try to finish it. I should have made an exception and just stopped reading. It was really tough to get through, and when I was done, I wasn't pleased that I stuck with it, I was mad that I would never get the time that I spent reading it back. Sigh.
Maybe it was a bad translation, or maybe the characters were a tad flat (cardboard), possibly the story didn't flow, and just maybe it wasn't worth reading.
I like to finish what I start, so if the story isn't nasty, dirty or yucky, I try to finish it. I should have made an exception and just stopped reading. It was really tough to get through, and when I was done, I wasn't pleased that I stuck with it, I was mad that I would never get the time that I spent reading it back. Sigh.
June 10, 2018
I picked this up at a jumble sale in Britain last year after returning from a weekend in Paris and thought it might be all right. Then, as I started reading it, I realised it was written by two real-life Parisian bookshop owners, it featured a Japanese character, a bunch of tabloid journalists, run-ins with some of the greats of French impressionist art of the 1880s and had a murder (and steamy-ish love story to boot). I should have loved it. But in truth, I found it a bit of a struggle to read all the way to the end, and I'm not sure why. Possibly because the villain didn't seem present, I kept wondering why our protagonist hero was interested in solving the mystery and some of the situations he found himself in seemed contrived, and then once the mystery was solved, the authors found it necessary to explain everything for another 10 pages or so. Still, it was their first book, so I guess that is forgivable. The bottom line? Enjoyable enough, but could have done with a bit tighter story editing, in my humble opinion.
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December 18, 2015
It was barely okay. Read (or tried to) for book club. The most interesting thing about the book was the setting. Paris during the World's Fair- what a great place to visit in a book! Some of the little details, like the Golden Book which people signed to prove that they had ascended the brand-new Eiffel Tower, were things I hadn't known and those little details did a good job of bringing Paris to life.
Paris was by far the most engaging character in the book. The authors seemed to take a bit of smug distance to gently mock almost every character in the book, with the possible exception of Tasha. And to be fair, some of the characters needed mocking, most notably Victor, our hero, who for no apparent reason suspects both his business partner and his girlfriend-to-be as murder suspects, for no real reason than that he doesn't always know where they are, and that they signed the Golden Book of the Eiffel Tower around the time that a man was murdered (hence the book title) there. Sure, these people were there, but so were HUNDREDS of others. And it's not like Victor goes through any organized process of analyzing the Golden Book, or much else about the murders. He only notices clues that relate directly to him, which leaves out possible mountains of evidence. Also, he's really a jerk and a stalker to Tasha, and if it weren't for Plot Reasons, I don't know why she'd have anything to do with him.
The POV switches randomly from one character to another, the prose meanders about in the same fashion. So, without good plot or good characters, we're just left with the setting to enjoy, and that's just not enough.
Paris was by far the most engaging character in the book. The authors seemed to take a bit of smug distance to gently mock almost every character in the book, with the possible exception of Tasha. And to be fair, some of the characters needed mocking, most notably Victor, our hero, who for no apparent reason suspects both his business partner and his girlfriend-to-be as murder suspects, for no real reason than that he doesn't always know where they are, and that they signed the Golden Book of the Eiffel Tower around the time that a man was murdered (hence the book title) there. Sure, these people were there, but so were HUNDREDS of others. And it's not like Victor goes through any organized process of analyzing the Golden Book, or much else about the murders. He only notices clues that relate directly to him, which leaves out possible mountains of evidence. Also, he's really a jerk and a stalker to Tasha, and if it weren't for Plot Reasons, I don't know why she'd have anything to do with him.
The POV switches randomly from one character to another, the prose meanders about in the same fashion. So, without good plot or good characters, we're just left with the setting to enjoy, and that's just not enough.
January 2, 2018
I dnf'ed this book. Or rather I skipped a lot of it. I read the first 30-40% and the last 10%, but I didn't even skim the middle. I just couldn't anymore.
It's not that I hated anything about this book, just that I didn't care at all for any of the characters. Not did I find the mystery particularly interesting.
And on top of that, it was confusing when the POV changed but there wasn't a new paragraph or anything. I took me a few sentences each time to realize it's a different character each time. (But since I read an ARC copy, I hope that got fixed in the finished edition).
I can't really say a lot about this book. It didn't happen that much in the first 40%, only me disliking the main character. and the conclusion was a bit underwhelming and I didn't buy the lovestory at all. But yeah ...
It's not that I hated anything about this book, just that I didn't care at all for any of the characters. Not did I find the mystery particularly interesting.
And on top of that, it was confusing when the POV changed but there wasn't a new paragraph or anything. I took me a few sentences each time to realize it's a different character each time. (But since I read an ARC copy, I hope that got fixed in the finished edition).
I can't really say a lot about this book. It didn't happen that much in the first 40%, only me disliking the main character. and the conclusion was a bit underwhelming and I didn't buy the lovestory at all. But yeah ...
December 20, 2021
Romanzo di nessuna velleita' letteraria, dalla trama gialla che all'inizio promette quasi bene, prosegue in un calando sconfortante e termina anche peggio. L'ambientazione poteva essere il punto di forza, stante l'inconsistenza dei personaggi ma si e' rivelata anch'essa superficiale e poco coinvolgente. Prima e (per me) ultima lettura della serie (si c'e' anche una serie con lo stesso personaggio principale).
July 18, 2014
This book is a splendid evocation of Paris during the Belle Époque, and Legris' frequent walks in various neighborhoods made me very happy indeed. The two women booksellers who write as Claude Izner bring their setting to life.
The mystery is also a good one. By the time I pieced all the clues together, it was almost time for the reveal. The list of suspects is a long one and represents almost all the various social strata in the city, which gives the authors more opportunity to depict their beloved Paris.
The one aspect of the book that I felt was lacking was the cast of characters. The only character in the entire book whom I felt had a real spark of life to him was Joseph, the assistant in Victor's bookshop. (While I'm on the subject of that bookshop, librarians and booksellers reading Murder on the Eiffel Tower will see that customers really haven't changed much from one century to another.) The main character, Victor Legris, is what I've always thought of as a boulevardier-- a man-about-town. He dresses well, he dines well, he has a mistress. Victor has many things and does many things (even deigning to work in his shop from time to time), but he still felt a bit two-dimensional, a bit reserved, as did everyone else.
As much as I loved mentally walking the streets of Paris in the late nineteenth century while solving an enjoyable mystery, it's the stiffness of the characters that will make me hesitate to continue with this series.
The mystery is also a good one. By the time I pieced all the clues together, it was almost time for the reveal. The list of suspects is a long one and represents almost all the various social strata in the city, which gives the authors more opportunity to depict their beloved Paris.
The one aspect of the book that I felt was lacking was the cast of characters. The only character in the entire book whom I felt had a real spark of life to him was Joseph, the assistant in Victor's bookshop. (While I'm on the subject of that bookshop, librarians and booksellers reading Murder on the Eiffel Tower will see that customers really haven't changed much from one century to another.) The main character, Victor Legris, is what I've always thought of as a boulevardier-- a man-about-town. He dresses well, he dines well, he has a mistress. Victor has many things and does many things (even deigning to work in his shop from time to time), but he still felt a bit two-dimensional, a bit reserved, as did everyone else.
As much as I loved mentally walking the streets of Paris in the late nineteenth century while solving an enjoyable mystery, it's the stiffness of the characters that will make me hesitate to continue with this series.
November 26, 2014
I can't not read a book set in 1889 Paris, even if it's not the best. This was a quick read, it did hold my interest in the sense that I wanted to see how the authors would end it. An unusual murder method, lots of characters who were superficially memorable, but not much depth. The conceit which drives the plot is the relationship between Victor & Kenji - they have a lot of secrets from each other - but this also keeps you from knowing & caring about them. Will the second book remedy this? I'll give it a chance since right now I want another light read...
August 18, 2017
3.5
Molto carino, un po' leggero forse, ma è molto particolare per l'ambientazione storica e geografica. Siamo infatti all'esposizione universale di Parigi del 1889, quella per cui è sorta la torre Eiffel. ^.^
Molto carino, un po' leggero forse, ma è molto particolare per l'ambientazione storica e geografica. Siamo infatti all'esposizione universale di Parigi del 1889, quella per cui è sorta la torre Eiffel. ^.^
April 7, 2011
I suspect we all pick up a book looking forward to what is going to happen. So normally around page 50 a reader will be getting twitchy if nothing much has happened. Get to the end of the book and it still seems like you're waiting for something to happen and it's a very frustrating experience.
Set during the 1889 World Expo in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has just been officially opened and is a massive attraction. When a woman dies on one of the Tower's platforms, officially she died from a bee sting. As other people also die supposedly from bee stings, the police are not particularly interested, but Victor Legris, local bookseller and man about town type, is convinced that there is something sinister to these deaths.
Part of the reason that the book seems to go nowhere is that very early on the reader will find themselves being dragged down all sorts of cul-de-sacs, and dead-end alleyways into some, albeit fascinating historical aspects. What the book does particularly well is give you a great sense of the place and time - with some of those cul-de-sacs quite interesting in their own right. If only they hadn't dragged the focus away from the main plot point just once too often.
None of that meandering around was much helped by the investigation style of Legris. Which seemed to amount to a lot of leaping and posturing, and very little in the way of fact gathering - or disclosure to the reader for that matter.
The other problem with the book was some seriously poor character development, particularly that of Legris and his love interest, Tasha the Russian artist. He was very flat, and strangely one-dimensional and I did wonder how much the background of the author (actually two Parisian bookselling sisters) informed their view of their central protagonist. Perhaps they were aiming for dramatic and interesting, but alas ended up with melodramatic and a bit silly. Tasha didn't fare much better, as if being an artist in 1880's Paris wasn't enough of a cliché, she was Russian, she started out with a bit of potential, but quickly faded to bland.
I will dip into the next book in the series, as it's here, and first books are often not a good indicator of the potential of a series, but to be honest, I had to bribe myself with a chocolate for every 20 pages read to finish this one. I hope my doctor's not going to get all over-excited about my blood sugar levels after the next one.
Set during the 1889 World Expo in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has just been officially opened and is a massive attraction. When a woman dies on one of the Tower's platforms, officially she died from a bee sting. As other people also die supposedly from bee stings, the police are not particularly interested, but Victor Legris, local bookseller and man about town type, is convinced that there is something sinister to these deaths.
Part of the reason that the book seems to go nowhere is that very early on the reader will find themselves being dragged down all sorts of cul-de-sacs, and dead-end alleyways into some, albeit fascinating historical aspects. What the book does particularly well is give you a great sense of the place and time - with some of those cul-de-sacs quite interesting in their own right. If only they hadn't dragged the focus away from the main plot point just once too often.
None of that meandering around was much helped by the investigation style of Legris. Which seemed to amount to a lot of leaping and posturing, and very little in the way of fact gathering - or disclosure to the reader for that matter.
The other problem with the book was some seriously poor character development, particularly that of Legris and his love interest, Tasha the Russian artist. He was very flat, and strangely one-dimensional and I did wonder how much the background of the author (actually two Parisian bookselling sisters) informed their view of their central protagonist. Perhaps they were aiming for dramatic and interesting, but alas ended up with melodramatic and a bit silly. Tasha didn't fare much better, as if being an artist in 1880's Paris wasn't enough of a cliché, she was Russian, she started out with a bit of potential, but quickly faded to bland.
I will dip into the next book in the series, as it's here, and first books are often not a good indicator of the potential of a series, but to be honest, I had to bribe myself with a chocolate for every 20 pages read to finish this one. I hope my doctor's not going to get all over-excited about my blood sugar levels after the next one.
June 22, 2015
My edition of "Murder on the Eiffel Tower" (one of the Swedish editions) only have one blurb... a vague praise from a mostly unknown magazine. A couple of years ago I came to the realisation that if a novel only have one blurb on the cover, and the source isn't either another renowned author or a big magazine, it's most likely not very good.
I was right. "Murder on the Eiffel Tower" was... bland. More than bland, almost childlike. The author suffered a great deal from the infamous "tell, don't show"-sickness, where the author tells the reader everything that happens without ever showing it. You get told that person X is charming, but X doesn't ever do something that makes you think she/he's charming.
The characters was one dimensional. The mystery plot never got suspenseful, even though people died like flies (hehe), mostly because I never cared about the main character at all.
And do you know the most ridiculous?
I really hoped that this would be a French Christie, like the cover promised, but alas, I was wrong.
I was right. "Murder on the Eiffel Tower" was... bland. More than bland, almost childlike. The author suffered a great deal from the infamous "tell, don't show"-sickness, where the author tells the reader everything that happens without ever showing it. You get told that person X is charming, but X doesn't ever do something that makes you think she/he's charming.
The characters was one dimensional. The mystery plot never got suspenseful, even though people died like flies (hehe), mostly because I never cared about the main character at all.
And do you know the most ridiculous?
I really hoped that this would be a French Christie, like the cover promised, but alas, I was wrong.
July 30, 2015
Mystère rue des Saints-Pères - Murder on the Eiffel Tower
I generally have a problem when it comes to crime/detective novels. When almost every single person here in Sweden reads crime (Sweden has a looooot of authors in that genre), I'm like... meh.
So my hopes weren't high when I started reading this French detective book - a bestseller... And it continued like that throughout the book. Nah, this just wasn't my cup of tea. Crime never is as I should know by now.
My primary problems with the book were the main character, the plot and the writing. Victor Legris is the main character. He is a bookseller but instead of thinking about books, he gets too focused on women... He just can't let it go. The plot was very drawn out in my opinion. Too many characters to keep track of and too many murders. And the murderer wasn't that hard to figure out either. The writing is the biggest issue here. It's rather incoherent and confusing in several places. After a while I gave up on the details. I don't know if it was a bad translation or something...
So this wasn't my kind of book. But maybe it will work for you if you're into crime/detective and love Paris. The thing I liked about the book was actually the environment and the French vibes it gave me.
★ Actual rating 2,5 stars ★
August 2, 2016
I thought this historical fiction mystery set in Paris during the Universal Exposition of 1889, would be the light, quick read I needed. It wasn't. I enjoyed the Paris setting and time period. The mystery story itself, a little too slow-paced for me and the reveal...hard for me to swallow. Victor Legris is a bookseller and sometimes columnist for a new newspaper. He gets caught up in the headline producing deaths "by bee stings" of people in and around the exposition. As he stumbles on some coincidences that throw suspicion on his business partner & surrogate father, as well as the woman he has become enamored of; he is determined to uncover the truth.
This book is the first of a series.
This book is the first of a series.
May 14, 2014
Un giallo spento e poco interessante, che ha come sfondo la Torre Eiffel e i padiglioni dell’esposizione universale del 1889 di Parigi. La trama promette all’inizio ma si spegne subito, perdendosi nelle elucubrazioni del protagonista, il libraio Victor Legris, personaggio insignificante come gli altri di una storia che si rivela banale e poco interessante. La ricostruzione storica della Parigi dell’epoca avrebbe potuto essere il punto di forza del libro, ma secondo me è fatta in modo superficiale, riducendosi a un’accozzaglia di indirizzi e di personaggi senza colore, che non rimangono in mente. Una lettura di cui mi sto già dimenticando, del tutto evitabile.
January 11, 2024
It's 1889 and the Eiffel Tower has just opened along with the World Exposition. The book starts with a rag and bone man dying after an apparent bee sting. Then the same thing happens to a woman touring the Eiffel Tower. Victor Legris is supposed to be the main character, he's a book seller present when the women dies, but really the book jumps around between perspectives a lot. During conversations perspectives switched in the middle and it was just annoying and confusing. The authors obviously did a lot of research into the exposition and parts of that were interesting. I just didn't like any of the characters, and there were a lot of them, and really didn't care who the murderer was. I definitely won't be continuing the series.
July 7, 2012
Il termine più appropriato pensando alla lettura di questo romanzo è "sbiadito".
Tutto è un pò monotono: trama, caratterizzazione dei personaggi, affresco storico, nulla rimane impresso o appare degno di nota.
Il protagonista principale, il libraio Victor Legris, risulta inoltre decisamente antipatico e poco adatto a rivestire il ruolo dell'investigatore dilettante, mentre gli altri personaggi della vicenda appaiono evanescenti e quasi "di passaggio". Anche la trama "gialla" vera e propria è in linea con tutto il resto, fiacca e poco verosimile.
Il contesto in cui è ambientata la narrazione è in realtà decisamente affascinante, ma anche in questo caso è tratteggiato in maniera poco incisiva, quasi incolore: a parte un gran guazzabuglio di nomi e date non resta in mente granché, e le autrici non riescono proprio a trasmettere le sensazioni e l'atmosfera legate alla Parigi di fine Ottocento.
Ho trovato molto più interessante la postfazione sull'epoca storica di riferimento, e questo dice tutto!
Tutto è un pò monotono: trama, caratterizzazione dei personaggi, affresco storico, nulla rimane impresso o appare degno di nota.
Il protagonista principale, il libraio Victor Legris, risulta inoltre decisamente antipatico e poco adatto a rivestire il ruolo dell'investigatore dilettante, mentre gli altri personaggi della vicenda appaiono evanescenti e quasi "di passaggio". Anche la trama "gialla" vera e propria è in linea con tutto il resto, fiacca e poco verosimile.
Il contesto in cui è ambientata la narrazione è in realtà decisamente affascinante, ma anche in questo caso è tratteggiato in maniera poco incisiva, quasi incolore: a parte un gran guazzabuglio di nomi e date non resta in mente granché, e le autrici non riescono proprio a trasmettere le sensazioni e l'atmosfera legate alla Parigi di fine Ottocento.
Ho trovato molto più interessante la postfazione sull'epoca storica di riferimento, e questo dice tutto!
June 4, 2015
I love pen-names. Claude Izner is the pen-name for the two sisters who wrote this book. I love translated books. This was originally written in French and translated into English. Every once in a while you can tell there is a sentence or two that hasn't translated over correctly. This was a quick and interesting read. I don't read many murder mysteries. I am not good and figuring out the culprit ahead of time. Even when the murder was revealed to me I was thinking," Who is that again?"
May 30, 2018
I found this mystery to be overly complicated and the motives of the perpetrator to be insufficient to account for the crimes committed.
August 17, 2025
could not put this book down 🥵, just loved this book, would recommend the series to anyone who likes a different kind of mystery, the fact that they all take place in 1880's Paris is a bonus 😍
October 15, 2020
Murder on the Eiffel Tower (2003) by Claude Izner (Liliane Korb & Laurence Lefevre) is the debut novel in a historical mystery series set in France at the end of the 19th Century. As the title would indicate, it revolves around a set of murders that occur on the Eiffel Tower, at the 1889 World Exposition where the tower was unveiled, and to others who had visited the tower during the Exposition. The first death to attract major attention (though, not precisely the first of the string of murders) occurs on the upper platform. An inoffensive poor relation who had escorted her niece and nephews to see the sights and exhibits dies suddenly from an apparent bee sting.
Several similar deaths occur and a brand new newspaper Le Passe-partout manages to scoop the other papers each time. Marius Bonnet and his team of journalists are on the spot (having a luncheon at the Tower's cafe) when poor Eugenie Patinot dies and they make the most of it. And even though the police keep insisting that bees are the culprit, the paper keeps hinting that a murderer is loose among the exhibits.
Victor Legris, a friend of Bonnet, is a bookseller and literary man who has been invited to the luncheon and to contribute literary articles for the paper. He soon notices that various people, including his mentor and business partner Kenji Mori, seem to be on the spot each time a new death occurs and begins to investigate on his own. He sets out initially to prove that Mori couldn't be involved in such wickedness but the more he discovers the more unsure he is. But his other main suspect doesn't make him any happier. Through the newspaper, he has met the beautiful Russian illustrator Tasha and begins to fall in love with her. But...she also has been in the vicinity each time death has struck and there are certain clues that he thinks could well point to her. It isn't until someone tries to eliminate Victor and carelessly leaves behind a most illuminating clue that he begins to see the real plot. He'll need to rush back to the Tower--but will he be in time to prevent one more death?
This is another middle-of-the-road read for me (I seem to be on a string of those). There were enough clues that, had I paid proper attention to them, I could have figured things out before the reveal. The setting is charming and I found the descriptions of both Paris in the late 1800s and the World Exposition in particular to be quite entertaining and interesting. The murder method, plot and motive were all interesting as well. I wish I could say as much for Victor as our protagonist. He really is something of a goop and certainly isn't a born detective. He is all set to suspect the man who has served as a substitute father and his mentor of murder on the flimsiest of evidence. Then he's ready to suspect the woman who he's falling in love with on...well, not flimsy evidence, but very ambiguous evidence. And he's so wishy-washy about it all. One moment he's certain she did it and is clumsy enough to let her see it--making her mad if she's innocent and tipping her off if she's not. The next moment some other tidbit comes along and he's quite sure and hugely relieved that she didn't do it. He sortof recognizes that there are other suspects, but for about 80% of the book he's too busy being worried about the people he cares about to really work on figuring out whether somebody else is the murderer.
The characters with the most interest for me are Joseph, the bookshop assistant, and Tasha, the beautiful artist (though I don't get why she keeps letting Victor come back after every episode where he pretty much accuses her of being a heartless murderer...). Joseph has way more brains than Victor and could probably have identified the killer at least three murders earlier if he'd had access to all the clues his employer had stumbled across. But poor Joseph, he's stuck in the bookshop dealing with obnoxious lady customers while Victor bumbles picking up clues that he doesn't really recognize the significance of. And Tasha is an intelligent, independent woman. Although she has this overpowering attraction to Victor (that's the only explanation I can come up with for why she keeps allowing him back), she's set on keeping her independence even when the murders are all solved and he wants her to marry him (or at least live a lot closer to him in a nicer apartment).
It would seem that the Izner books focus on Victor as an amateur detective and I have picked up several more in the series. I'm willing to give the series another look. I hope that Victor's skills as an investigator improve and become as interesting as the setting and plot.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
Several similar deaths occur and a brand new newspaper Le Passe-partout manages to scoop the other papers each time. Marius Bonnet and his team of journalists are on the spot (having a luncheon at the Tower's cafe) when poor Eugenie Patinot dies and they make the most of it. And even though the police keep insisting that bees are the culprit, the paper keeps hinting that a murderer is loose among the exhibits.
Victor Legris, a friend of Bonnet, is a bookseller and literary man who has been invited to the luncheon and to contribute literary articles for the paper. He soon notices that various people, including his mentor and business partner Kenji Mori, seem to be on the spot each time a new death occurs and begins to investigate on his own. He sets out initially to prove that Mori couldn't be involved in such wickedness but the more he discovers the more unsure he is. But his other main suspect doesn't make him any happier. Through the newspaper, he has met the beautiful Russian illustrator Tasha and begins to fall in love with her. But...she also has been in the vicinity each time death has struck and there are certain clues that he thinks could well point to her. It isn't until someone tries to eliminate Victor and carelessly leaves behind a most illuminating clue that he begins to see the real plot. He'll need to rush back to the Tower--but will he be in time to prevent one more death?
This is another middle-of-the-road read for me (I seem to be on a string of those). There were enough clues that, had I paid proper attention to them, I could have figured things out before the reveal. The setting is charming and I found the descriptions of both Paris in the late 1800s and the World Exposition in particular to be quite entertaining and interesting. The murder method, plot and motive were all interesting as well. I wish I could say as much for Victor as our protagonist. He really is something of a goop and certainly isn't a born detective. He is all set to suspect the man who has served as a substitute father and his mentor of murder on the flimsiest of evidence. Then he's ready to suspect the woman who he's falling in love with on...well, not flimsy evidence, but very ambiguous evidence. And he's so wishy-washy about it all. One moment he's certain she did it and is clumsy enough to let her see it--making her mad if she's innocent and tipping her off if she's not. The next moment some other tidbit comes along and he's quite sure and hugely relieved that she didn't do it. He sortof recognizes that there are other suspects, but for about 80% of the book he's too busy being worried about the people he cares about to really work on figuring out whether somebody else is the murderer.
The characters with the most interest for me are Joseph, the bookshop assistant, and Tasha, the beautiful artist (though I don't get why she keeps letting Victor come back after every episode where he pretty much accuses her of being a heartless murderer...). Joseph has way more brains than Victor and could probably have identified the killer at least three murders earlier if he'd had access to all the clues his employer had stumbled across. But poor Joseph, he's stuck in the bookshop dealing with obnoxious lady customers while Victor bumbles picking up clues that he doesn't really recognize the significance of. And Tasha is an intelligent, independent woman. Although she has this overpowering attraction to Victor (that's the only explanation I can come up with for why she keeps allowing him back), she's set on keeping her independence even when the murders are all solved and he wants her to marry him (or at least live a lot closer to him in a nicer apartment).
It would seem that the Izner books focus on Victor as an amateur detective and I have picked up several more in the series. I'm willing to give the series another look. I hope that Victor's skills as an investigator improve and become as interesting as the setting and plot.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
August 29, 2021
Париж с высоты 324-х метров.
Книга больше похожа на путеводитель по всемирной выставке в Париже в 1889 году. Замечательно, не поспоришь, но детективная составляющая суетлива. Героев много, и что печально основные, включая и злодея, прописаны плохо, так что ты не понимаешь, кто кому друг, враг и кто сейчас куда побежал. Можно многое простить книге, но не тот момент, когда ты в героях разобраться не можешь, даже если их называют по имени.
Если убрать такую составляющую как детектив, то получится интереснейшее произведение на тему того, каким был Париж во время Всемирной выставки. Что было модно, как менялись вкусы, зачем выставку вообще устраивали, какая музыка звучала на улицах города и как жили простые парижане. Тут подружки-авторы молодцы, именно эта составляющая книги была шикарна! Город оживал, начинал звучать на разные голоса, проявлялись звуки города, пахло типографской краской. Ты не столько читаешь книгу, сколько гуляешь по Парижу, любуешься им и ужасаешься. Оживает и книжный магазин, но не за счет главных героев, владельцев магазинчика, а за счет второстепенных персонажей. Шикарные барышни, жаждущие своих книг, помощник при магазине, единственный, кто оставался на месте и справлялся с барышнями) Это было написано живо, может чуточку на читателя, но так весело, что именно эти кусочки и запоминались.
Мы должны были бы влюбиться в главного героя, переживать за его отношения с женщинами, но этого не бы��о. Мало того, я только ближе к середине книги поняла, что именно наш герой имеет любовницу, с которой не в силах поговорить, поэтому расстается с ней можно сказать через смс, то есть, ничего ей не сообщая. Его новая... пассия, любовница, возлюбленная, тут не понятно кто, описана плохо. Второстепенная, уехавшая барышня опять же была ярче, ее было не больше страницы, а ты ее представил, живую, настоящую, лапушку с формами и желаниями, а главная героиня выглядит серым пятном. У нее есть вспышки, где она проявляется, но образ не складывается и не очаровывает. Она никакая, должна быть сильной и смелой, как в песне:
Красивая и смелая, дорогу перешла.А не вышло такой женщины. Не чувствуется ее самостоятельности, ее недовольства, ее влюбленности. Она есть, ты про нее читаешь, но тебе не за что ухватиться, не за что полюбить ее. Кажется, что и сам герой ее не так чтобы любит, его восхитил один момент с ней в книжном магазине и на этом продолжает держаться интерес, как и у читателя, потому что больше ничего его не восхищало, он больше ничего в ней не видел. Это печально, ведь это главные герои, ради которых ты должен взяться за следующую книгу в цикле.
И опять главная линия, детективная, прописана плохо, в отличие от второстепенной линии, которая должна задавать атмосферу - экскурсной. Детективная линия сумбурна, само расследование дергано, причина поступка настолько никакая, что ты разочаровываешься до беспамятства. Сам способ убийства вроде бы интересен, но не изящен, не похож на взмах фокусника, как действительно происходит в классических детективах. Все выглядит грубовато. В сериале "Смерть в раю" в одной из серий, кажется, девятого сезона, был момент с избирательными кабинками, где убийца чуть ли не на авось надеется и успевает убить человека и проделать кучу дополнительных действий, не издав ни звука, да еще и убежать, пока не глухой свидетель отворачивается и отходит к своему столу, ну в шагах пяти от места убийства. Когда на такое смотришь думаешь в себе ли были сценаристы, вот и тут читаешь рассказ убийцы об убийстве и задаешься вопросом, а в себе ли были писательницы? Мне порой кажется, наверное с книги "Изящное искусство смерти", что авторы сейчас слишком погружаются в мир кино и забывают о реальности, о том, как действуют и двигаются люди на самом деле. Не сложно написать сцену под картинку на экране, мы ее посмотрим с эффектами и что-то не заметим, не сможем оценить, да и картинка - это еще и психологический тон, сложно учитывать ее как реальность, но когда мы читаем, мы представляем движения во времени настоящем и чувствуем несоответствие, на которое и скажем - не верим. Вот тут у нас как раз читаешь и не веришь.
Как детектив книга больше разочаровывает, но как возможность попутешествовать по Парижу - это прелесть какая книга)
зы. Добавлю, что перевод у книги хороший. И не вина переводчика, что второстепенные линии у авторов лучше основных)
October 8, 2018
Mlle Alice, pouvez-vous nous raconter votre rencontre avec Mystère rue des Saints-Pères?
"J'avais déjà aperçu ces jolies couvertures plus d'une fois et l'histoire de ce libraire me tentait bien. Alors quand j'ai rencontré, aux Quais du Polar, le duo de soeurs qui écrivent sous le nom de Claude Izner, je n'ai pas pu résister plus longtemps."
Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Alors que l'Exposition Universelle bat son plein, plusieurs personnes meurent prétendument d'une simple piqure d'abeille. Mais Victor Legris, libraire et chroniqueur pour un journal, trouve les coïncidences un peu trop étranges et les fils qui relient ses amis à ces meurtres, un peu trop nombreux."
Mais que s'est-il exactement passé entre vous?
"J'ai bien aimé cette lecture pour son époque, son cadre et ses descriptions de Paris et de sa toute nouvelle Tour Eiffel. En revanche, j'ai trouvé le personnage principal un peu benêt. Il me semble que dernièrement, le procédé de rendre le héros long à la détente afin de faire durer l'enquête plutôt que de se donner la peine de complexifier celle-ci devient un peu trop répandu. De plus, si le lecteur n'est pas lui-même limité, il arrive forcément un moment où il s'ennuie un peu. En bref, et peut-être aussi parce que j'en attendais beaucoup ou que je lis trop de romans du même genre, je dois dire que je n'ai pas été transcendée par ma lecture. La culture de ses auteurs, en revanche, ne fait aucun doute et toutes les anecdotes, citations et rencontres inopinées qui parsèment le récit sont un véritable régal."
Et comment cela s'est-il fini?
"Dans les romans qui se tissent dans les mailles de l'Histoire, je reproche souvent aux auteurs de ne pas démêler pour nous la réalité de la fiction, ici j'ai donc beaucoup apprécié l'épilogue qui replace le contexte et nous donne un petit cours tout à fait bienvenu. Ce ne sera malheureusement pas suffisant pour me donner envie de persévérer dans cette série."
http://booksaremywonderland.hautetfor...
"J'avais déjà aperçu ces jolies couvertures plus d'une fois et l'histoire de ce libraire me tentait bien. Alors quand j'ai rencontré, aux Quais du Polar, le duo de soeurs qui écrivent sous le nom de Claude Izner, je n'ai pas pu résister plus longtemps."
Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Alors que l'Exposition Universelle bat son plein, plusieurs personnes meurent prétendument d'une simple piqure d'abeille. Mais Victor Legris, libraire et chroniqueur pour un journal, trouve les coïncidences un peu trop étranges et les fils qui relient ses amis à ces meurtres, un peu trop nombreux."
Mais que s'est-il exactement passé entre vous?
"J'ai bien aimé cette lecture pour son époque, son cadre et ses descriptions de Paris et de sa toute nouvelle Tour Eiffel. En revanche, j'ai trouvé le personnage principal un peu benêt. Il me semble que dernièrement, le procédé de rendre le héros long à la détente afin de faire durer l'enquête plutôt que de se donner la peine de complexifier celle-ci devient un peu trop répandu. De plus, si le lecteur n'est pas lui-même limité, il arrive forcément un moment où il s'ennuie un peu. En bref, et peut-être aussi parce que j'en attendais beaucoup ou que je lis trop de romans du même genre, je dois dire que je n'ai pas été transcendée par ma lecture. La culture de ses auteurs, en revanche, ne fait aucun doute et toutes les anecdotes, citations et rencontres inopinées qui parsèment le récit sont un véritable régal."
Et comment cela s'est-il fini?
"Dans les romans qui se tissent dans les mailles de l'Histoire, je reproche souvent aux auteurs de ne pas démêler pour nous la réalité de la fiction, ici j'ai donc beaucoup apprécié l'épilogue qui replace le contexte et nous donne un petit cours tout à fait bienvenu. Ce ne sera malheureusement pas suffisant pour me donner envie de persévérer dans cette série."
http://booksaremywonderland.hautetfor...
October 13, 2020
Atmosfera magica e bellissima di Parigi della Belle Epoque, con l'Esposizione Universale e la Tour Eiffel che entrano di prepotenza in questo romanzo. Degli strani delitti sembranno avvenire proprio nel periodo dell'Esposizione Universale e alcuni proprio sulla torre costruita da Monsieur Eiffel; delle punture assassine, forse di api sguinzagliate da qualcuno o forse dello stesso assassino, con vittime che non sembrano avere grandi legami tra loro, se non quello di essere salite sulla torre di metallo che diventerà il simbolo della città.
La soluzione del caso è piuttosto fiacca e mi lascia in dubbio se proseguire o meno la serie con il libraio Victor Legris a investigare, anche se l'atmosfera è davvero molto intrigante.
La soluzione del caso è piuttosto fiacca e mi lascia in dubbio se proseguire o meno la serie con il libraio Victor Legris a investigare, anche se l'atmosfera è davvero molto intrigante.
March 4, 2022
Degli strani delitti sembrano avvenire proprio nel periodo dell'Esposizione Universale e alcuni proprio sulla torre costruita da Monsieur Eiffel; delle punture assassine, forse di api con vittime che non sembrano avere grandi legami tra loro, se non quello di essere salite sulla torre di metallo che diventerà il simbolo della città. La soluzione del caso è piuttosto fiacca e non mi rende molto propensa a proseguire la serie. In generale l’ho trovata una lettura piacevole e scorrevole, con uno stile narrativo molto semplice e lineare. Forse in alcuni punti un po’ anonimo e piatto. Il mistero attorno al quale si sviluppa l’intera storia non è particolarmente coinvolgente. Consigliato se si vuole approfondire la conoscenza di quel periodo storico, e se si cerca un giallo senza troppe pretese.
July 31, 2025
I quite enjoyed this book. I liked the general atmosphere of the exhibition in Paris, I quite liked Victor as well. I would give it 3.5 stars.
I don't understand the many bad reviews. Maybe it is because most French novels are different from anglophone novels. Plot and characters are not necessarily as important.
I don't understand the many bad reviews. Maybe it is because most French novels are different from anglophone novels. Plot and characters are not necessarily as important.
June 18, 2017
C'était globalement sympa. Les personnages et le contexte étaient intéressant, l'intrigue pas trop mal, par contre j'ai eu un peu de mal avec l'écriture et la façon de mener l'histoire... je lirai quand même la suite de cette série, mais ce n'est pas ma série prioritaire en polar.
August 10, 2020
La storia si svolge attorno alla torre Eiffel e all'Esposizione Universale del 1889. Nuove tecnologie, vecchi libri, giornalismo d'assalto, obbligatoria storia d'amore.
E' un buon racconto per un pomeriggio d'estate.
E' un buon racconto per un pomeriggio d'estate.
February 6, 2017
May, 1889: the Universal Exposition is inaugurated in Paris, spreading its bizarre and exotic expanse around the base of the newly-built Eiffel Tower. Shortly after the Expo opens, an elderly woman, a poor relative of well-off folk, visits the tower with her three rambunctious nephews and niece in tow—and falls dead, of what seems like a bee-sting. Then, a few days later, an American explorer named John Cavendish is killed in the Expo grounds by what again seems like a bee sting.
This is neither the start nor the end of the deaths. The ‘killer bees’ have already struck before, at a rag-and-bone man whose case has been quickly forgotten. And, as the days pass, other people, all seemingly unconnected to each other, also die, suddenly and inexplicably, killed by a supposed bee sting. Bookseller and enthusiastic amateur photographer Victor Legris, in the midst of being besotted by a Russian artist named Tasha, and realizing that he actually knows very little of the Japanese, Kenji Mori, who brought up Victor and is now his partner at the bookstore, decides to get to the bottom of the mystery.
For me, what really made Murder at the Eiffel Tower shine was the brilliant way Claude Izner (the pen name of sisters Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefèvre) brings late 19th century Paris alive: the books, the art scene, the cosmopolitan nature of the city, the Tower, the Expo… all of it is vivid and palpably real. The story itself is good, complex and intricate: I couldn’t figure out, till the very end, when it was revealed, what was happening and who was responsible.
The one thing that did jar was the way perspective kept switching throughout the book: from Victor to Tasha to Kenji to Joseph to others. This, since Victor is the primary character and most of the book is from his point of view, was a little annoying, since I’d gotten used to looking at the scenario from Victor’s eyes, and suddenly the POV switched to someone else—for a brief while. Either all Victor’s POV or a more balanced spread of POVs (not always easily done) would’ve been preferable.
Interestingly (and I don’t know if this is sheer coincidence) but the modus operandi and the motive bear a resemblance to those of Saradindu Bandopadhyay’s The Quill of the Porcupine.
This is neither the start nor the end of the deaths. The ‘killer bees’ have already struck before, at a rag-and-bone man whose case has been quickly forgotten. And, as the days pass, other people, all seemingly unconnected to each other, also die, suddenly and inexplicably, killed by a supposed bee sting. Bookseller and enthusiastic amateur photographer Victor Legris, in the midst of being besotted by a Russian artist named Tasha, and realizing that he actually knows very little of the Japanese, Kenji Mori, who brought up Victor and is now his partner at the bookstore, decides to get to the bottom of the mystery.
For me, what really made Murder at the Eiffel Tower shine was the brilliant way Claude Izner (the pen name of sisters Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefèvre) brings late 19th century Paris alive: the books, the art scene, the cosmopolitan nature of the city, the Tower, the Expo… all of it is vivid and palpably real. The story itself is good, complex and intricate: I couldn’t figure out, till the very end, when it was revealed, what was happening and who was responsible.
The one thing that did jar was the way perspective kept switching throughout the book: from Victor to Tasha to Kenji to Joseph to others. This, since Victor is the primary character and most of the book is from his point of view, was a little annoying, since I’d gotten used to looking at the scenario from Victor’s eyes, and suddenly the POV switched to someone else—for a brief while. Either all Victor’s POV or a more balanced spread of POVs (not always easily done) would’ve been preferable.
Interestingly (and I don’t know if this is sheer coincidence) but the modus operandi and the motive bear a resemblance to those of Saradindu Bandopadhyay’s The Quill of the Porcupine.
March 29, 2015
So, I found this book at my local library on a display of French mysteries. I have never read a French mystery before, and the plot seemed intriguing. So, I gave it a shot. I am not sure if there were things lost in translation or just that this novel was disjointed in places. I also found it odd that things which would be considered stereotypical were very evident in this book. I felt the love interest was competing head-on with the actual plot of this book. At times, it was unclear what should be center stage: love story or mystery. As I was trying to parse this out, I found myself swept up into the mysterious trail of clues and then I was off on the adventure! Again, I feel like some things just did not carry over in the translation. Allowing for that, I enjoyed the storyline. Fairly crafty and an enjoyable read set in an historical period. It ends with the love interest once again with almost ridiculous advances: see the girl, smitten by the girl, in love with the girl, must have the girl, need to marry the girl. This happens in days. Really?
I will give the next in the series a shot later as I am interested to see if the authors matured in their writing.
I will give the next in the series a shot later as I am interested to see if the authors matured in their writing.
December 14, 2011
Maybe it is that I read much of this little mystery on Amtrak buses and trains but I had a hard time following the plot. I did not think the characters were very interesting or even understandable. Also, I felt like there was some cultural veil (or poor translation) between me and the writers. The premise was interesting, the setting was wonderful (of course) and I did learn something about the exposition of 1879. I always find it interesting and somewhat surprising that there was such diversity in European cities like Paris and London prior to the 20th century. That alone made the book worthwhile and, since this first novel in the series gets the worst reviews, I am ready to move on to the second one with hope and optimism for a better read about the adventures of Victor and Kenji.
Just looked at the reviews for subsequent books in this series and have decided to return to Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series and the wonderful Donna Leon for my escapist mystery reading. Oh, to be Miss Dobbs in London!!
Just looked at the reviews for subsequent books in this series and have decided to return to Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series and the wonderful Donna Leon for my escapist mystery reading. Oh, to be Miss Dobbs in London!!
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